


No Pressure

by Annamelia



Category: Star Trek: Picard
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Mild Angst, Post-Canon Fix-It, Space Ninjas, never trust a romulan, sneakysneaky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:00:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23651230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annamelia/pseuds/Annamelia
Summary: Pulling on some threads I felt were left untied.POVs: Narek andNarissa, post-season (because you just know she isn't dead, no one saw a body)Please note; NOT an incestfic, no matter how creepy their relationship was on screen.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

_She fell. It was dark. Darkness held no fear for her. Darkness was a blessing, for didn’t they operate the best in darkness?_

_She fell. It was cold. She remembered screaming. That was…wrong…somehow. Zhat Vash do not scream. And yet, she remembered it._

_She fell. It was hard to breathe. She knew she was not reacting correctly, her mind sluggish, unresponsive. There was something she had to do, something important. She needed to do it now. Now. NOW!_

_Narissa’s hand slammed hard into the emergency transporter bracelet. She could see the Artifact’s outer hull plate getting closer and closer. If she knew how, she would pray for the transporter inertial dampening field to absorb as much of her momentum as possible before she rematerialized. She felt the transport begin, knew that had she waited even half a breath longer it would have been too late. She closed her eyes._

-o0o-

Narek held his breath, unmoving. He could hear the voices of _La Sirena_ ’s crew on the walkway above him. His personal vital signs cloak was working well, but the darkened cubby he had hidden himself in would remain safe only for so long. He needed to find somewhere more secret, more concealed. He had a feeling there must be hidden compartments on a ship like this. Even an ex-Starfleet freighter captain couldn’t be legitimate a hundred percent of the time. He could hear Soji, sounding as near to normal as he had ever heard. She was talking to the xB. Listening to them, he controlled his revulsion at the half-meat _thing_. The xB sounded almost compassionate, if that were possible.

“We all have demons, Soji. There are parts of my past I haven’t shared with anyone. You don’t have to tell anyone anything, least of all Jurati.”

Soji sighed. “I wouldn’t care, but she’s always so _nice_ about it. Every time it’s just, ‘no pressure!’. I can tell she wants to _beg_ to understand how falling in love works for me, but I really don’t want to relive it. Especially given that it turned out so…”

“Abusive? Painful? Disastrous?”

Narek could hear the pseudo-care in the xB’s voice, and he resented it. How _dare she_. She was barely more than a basic synth herself. He controlled the urge to step out of his hiding place and slap the small smile from her face.

“Any and all of the above.” He heard Soji reply. “Never trust a Romulan, I guess. Especially the ones who mysteriously turn up right when your job starts getting interesting. God, I should have anticipated it.”

He heard the xB putting her arm around Soji.

“It’s okay, some things you can’t anticipate. If she keeps bugging you about it, let me or Raffi know. We’ll get her to back off.”

“Thanks, Seven.” He could hear the smile in Soji’s voice, and he hated it.

-o0o-

_Even with the inertial dampening field absorbing much of the force, she hit the deck hard, the breath leaving her lungs with an ‘oof’. Narissa thought she might have cracked a few ribs. The pain lasted long moments, overwhelming her ability to think clearly. She curled into a ball, wincing as she did so, then forced herself to straighten out and lie flat. She focused on the mantras of her training, pushing the pain down, away. She listened as she did, hearing the occasional sound far in the distance. Now it was landed, the Artifact creaked, groaned and popped. She was sure she could hear the movement of xBs on the decks above._

_As silently as she could, she moved through her brother’s former quarters. She dug through his belongings, looking for his mobile holotransceiver. She needed to contact Oh._

_It wasn’t here._

-o0o-

Hours had passed. He was sure that the misfit crew were sleeping. It was time to act. He crept through the hold of the freighter, moving silently on bare feet. He had methodically scouted most of the space already, but hadn’t tried the back left corner. He avoided lit spaces, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. He moved carefully along the hull, looking closely for anything unexpected. He saw something that he knew to be a concealed opening next to a bulkhead and tucked himself down next to it, behind a crate. He pulled a small jamming device from his pocket, attaching it to the hidden door. A light flashed red, then green, telling him that any alarms or traps had been disabled. He felt around gently for a release catch and, finding it, pressed gently. There was a quiet _hiss_ and a grate moved slightly away from the hullplate, revealing a hidden compartment. It wasn’t large, but was more than big enough to hide him.

Narek crawled into the smuggling compartment and checked the inside of the doorway to make sure he could open it from the inside. There was a small interface point, with a camera. He cursed under his breath, pulling out the small jamming device once again. He attached it to the interface, knowing he could only hope it hadn’t activated when he moved past it. The light blinked red again. And stayed red.

-o0o-

_She wasn’t sure how long she’d been moving through the Artifact, never stopping in place for too long. She had lost track of time, but was certain it had been at least days. She knew that if the Fleet had been able to destroy the synths she wouldn’t still be here. They would have glassed the planet rather than allow even the chance something might have survived. Something must have happened, the synths somehow tricking the Romulan Fleet into leaving them alive._

_She heard another xB patrol moving through the corridor ahead of her and silently ducked into the room she had been passing. It was dark in here, but something was familiar about this space. Narissa could see discarded clothing, pictures, a smashed plant pot. She remembered; this was the synth’s living quarters. She felt the hate rise in her, the blood pounding in her ears. It had been the one to destroy everything. It was in its name, after all. The Destroyer. And It had started by destroying her brother. He was never so WEAK before It had got its talons into him._

_She breathed, allowing herself to feel the hate, the loathing, the disgust. She let it flood through her, washing away any uncertainty, any complacency. And then she let it go. This room, too, needed to be searched._

_Carefully, she picked her way around the room. The synth’s possessions she disregarded as irrelevant. They were all fabricated anyway, a life of lies in pictures. She moved towards the bed in the centre of the room, spying a small, familiar bag under the corner. Quickly, she snatched it up and moved back into the shadows. She could feel something small and solid inside the bag. She reached in and pulled out a holotransceiver. At last._

_She pushed the button to connect._

-o0o-

Cursing silently to himself again, Narek pulled himself out of the smuggling compartment, careful to take everything he had brought inside with him. The last thing he did was remove the jammer, slipping it back into his pocket. He moved, as quickly and quietly as he could, back to his previous hiding place. As he pulled a crate back into place, he heard the sound of voices and running feet.

“I don’t know what the hell it was, the pickup didn’t get a good look. There was some kind of interference.” Raffi, the ops officer. “Anyway, since when does this ship have secret compartments? I thought you flew legit?”

“I fly legit.” The captain, Rios. “They were there when I bought her and I’ve never seen the need to get rid of them. Anyway, I thought they maybe could be useful, someday.”

“Yeah, useful for a stowaway.” Raffi again, sounding amused. She continued, her tone of voice shifting to frustrated. “I can’t imagine any honest traveller wouldn’t just announce themselves. It’s not like we don’t have the room. Anyway, we’d have caught them as soon as our O2 supplies started to run lower than expected. Unless they’re a synth, I guess.”

Narek heard Rios grunt. “Go wake the others. I want everyone searching. Work in pairs.”

He could hear Raffi heading towards the crew quarters. She called out, “I don’t know if you noticed, Captain, but there are seven of us.”

“You and Seven, Picard and Soji, Agnes and Elnor.”

“And you?”

“This is _my_ ship. I know her better than anyone.” Narek heard the _whum_ of a charging phaser. “Anyone that thinks they can steal a free ride is gonna answer to me.”

-o0o-

The holo sprang to life with an unfamiliar face.

_“Report, Narek.”_

“It’s not Narek.”

_“Narissa. We were led to believe you were dead.”_

“I will not allow some filthy half-meat to kill me.”

_“Good. Report.”_

“This planet is somehow, inexplicably, still populated. I can only assume that there were failings at a high level.”

_“Decisions were made. Regrettably, it appears we may have been…wrong.”_

“Impossible! Where is Oh?”

_“Under guard.”_

“You _dare_!”

_“Not I. The Continuing Committee. Misuse of resources.”_

“Misuse…!”

_“You and your…division…are to stand down until the investigation has been completed.”_

Narissa snarled, stabbing viciously at the disconnect button. How could they do this? To her? She had been loyal, so loyal, for so long. To be shuffled aside as if she were some mistake!

She had to prove that the Zhat Vash were right, had _always_ been right. Clearly, her _disappointment_ of a brother had somehow failed at the only task she had asked of him. She would find and confront Seb-Cheneb herself.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuing the weaving of threads that were left untied.

He could hear them moving around on the deck above him, discussing where best to search first. Quickly, mind racing, he calculated the odds of his remaining hidden. Exceedingly slim, at best. He would have to reveal himself eventually.

Not to Rios – the man seemed unstable; Narek had heard him talking in at least three distinct accents – and not to Elnor – the freak had nearly killed him last time they had interacted. He didn’t think that Raffi and Seven would be too sympathetic and anyway he was revolted by the idea of surrendering to an ex-Borg.

His best bet was to find Picard and Soji. Picard was known to be merciful and idealistic, and Soji…well, he had persuaded her to listen to him before. Yes, on Ghulion IV it hadn’t worked quite as anticipated, but something had persuaded her not to fulfil her destiny as the Destroyer.

He waited, breathing as lightly as possible. Narek put very little stock in luck. The Tal Shiar had long ago taught him that luck was what you made it.

-o0o-

_Getting out of the Artifact had been surprisingly easy. Many of the xBs seemed distracted; somewhat incomplete. The loss of their shepherd, Hugh, and then their brief connection to a micro-Collective followed by its sudden stripping away, had left them disoriented, confused. They hardly paid attention to her, but nevertheless she moved as quietly as possible. They may no longer be connected, but she was sure it would only take one of the drones noticing her to draw the attention of them all. She had left the crashed cube in the night, the cool dark aiding her in concealment. In daylight, the dusty ground contrasted sharply with her uniform._

_As she crept toward the brow of a scrubby hill, Narissa realised she could hear voices raised in playful banter. The cadences of speech sounded distinctively Federation – human, if she was any judge. Another voice, a Vulcan, the monotone of one divorced from their own emotions drawing an unconscious curl to her lip. They hadn’t wasted any time. Whatever coup the synths had managed to pull off, it had clearly been with the aid of Picard and his misfit gang of miscreants. Peering through the thin vegetation, Narissa could see a small prefabricated building in a distinctively human style. Several figures in Starfleet uniforms carried boxes into the building from a nearby shuttlecraft. She listened to them for a few minutes, gleaning from their conversation that not only were the synths still alive, but that the Romulan fleet had backed down without even the barest suggestion of a fight. Hardly a wonder then, that Oh was under investigation. Likely her half-Vulcan ancestry had had its part to play in her cowardice. Narissa mentally noted the position of the shuttle and began to head back down and around the hill, towards the small city the synths called home._

_She heard the synths coming before she saw them. She concealed herself as best she could, aware that her best would be worth nothing if the synths had already become aware of her. With luck, the interference caused by the larger group of organics over the hill would be enough for her to escape their notice. There were three of them, a pair of twins, dark and masculine in appearance, and one that appeared female, with gold tinted skin. The golden-skinned female stopped a metre away from where Narissa was hidden, while the twinned pair continued on. She could see the synth gesture to them, with a small, tight smile on its face. Something about this synth seemed…off. Its movements, its expressions, reminded Narissa of the xBs back at the Artifact. Something within this synth was…damaged, broken, missing. As the masculine synths moved out of sight Narissa burst from her hiding place, leaping towards her target. The golden-skinned synth turned; almost fast enough._

_The thing was strong, stronger than Narissa had anticipated. Still, this wasn’t the first synthetic she had fought. Nerve pinches and pressure points were unlikely to work on a construct without vulnerable circulatory or nervous systems, but these synths were at least partially organic. Narissa tried a move that would have utterly incapacitated a human, and was satisfied to see it freeze in place. Working quickly, she pulled the synth to the floor and into the brush. She held it down with her knee, hand in a stranglers grip on the thing’s neck._

_“Where is Soji Asha?”_

_It stared up at her with frightened eyes, its mouth gaping like a landed fish. Narissa pressed down harder onto its neck, pulling a concealed knife from the side of her boot. She held the knife where the synth could see it, then slowly moved it down until the point was almost touching the synth’s eyeball._

_“Tell me.”_

_The synth’s eyes flooded with tears and it began to mouth something. Narissa released her grip just enough._

_It spoke. “Away.” Its voice was believably hoarse. If she weren’t so disgusted, Narissa would almost be impressed at the skill it must have taken to craft such a thing._

_“That is not an answer. You have one more chance to tell me where Soji Asha is before I put this through what you call an eye.”_

_The synthetic had begun to tremble, and Narissa knew that she had very little time before the neural shock she had administered would wear off. She kept eye contact with it, the point of her knife unmoving._

_“She went away. With the Picard. On his ship.”_

_A white-hot fury flashed through Narissa. Seb-Cheneb had escaped her again! She could scream from the frustration._

_“When?” Narissa snarled, barely remembering to keep her voice lowered._

_“Three days” The synth was definitely trembling more now, its hands spasming weakly at either side._

_With three days they could be anywhere in this sector. Narissa shoved her knife back into her boot and stood in a quick motion. She left the twitching synth lying on the floor, determined to get as far away as possible before it could raise any kind of alarm._

_She was concealed in the shadows behind the Starfleet shuttle by the time the screaming began._


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finishing off weaving the untied plot threads. 
> 
> POV Narek _Narissa_

The last few minutes had been tense. Rios had immediately gone to the smuggling compartment; was still inspecting it, in fact. The large phaser rifle was propped on his knee, still making the occasional humming sound. Narek wasn’t sure that it was set to stun.

The rest of the crew had separated to search different parts of the vessel. If he didn’t move soon he would lose his chance and Rios would likely be the one to find him. Narek held his breath, waiting for the moment Rios was at his most distracted. The captain ducked his head into the smuggling compartment. Now!

Narek silently manoeuvred himself around the large crate. A ladder to the upper deck was only a few steps away. As he reached out to grasp the handhold, he heard a click _whine_ from above. He looked up, into the face of Soji, and the barrel of a phaser.

“Give me one reason I shouldn’t pull this trigger, right now.”

Narek stepped slowly back, raising his arms in the human gesture of surrender. “It would be very messy?”

“Not good enough”. Soji raised an eyebrow and Narek could have sworn he saw her finger begin to tighten on the trigger when he heard a voice from behind her.

“Wait.”

Picard, thank the powers. No one else possessed that same combination of gentle gravitas and companionable firmness.

Soji hesitated for half a breath, before moving the phaser to a slightly less aggressive angle. Narek knew it could be raised again so fast he would never know what had ended him. She glared at him, the distrust, fury and…shame?...almost palpable.

Narek cleared his throat. “Thank you, Admiral. I wonder-”

Picard held up a restraining hand. “Young man, do not make the mistake of assuming that I am your friend. While I do indeed believe that all life has a right to self-determination, that does not mean I agree with the path that you or your people have chosen. And do not misunderstand me; my primary objective is to prevent Soji from making a mistake she may come to bitterly regret.”

Narek looked up into the face of the elderly human. He hadn’t understood before why so many regarded him as a force, even now. He had never fully grasped the awe with which some of his superiors would speak of this man, at least in private.

He could see it now. This man had known power. Had held life and death in his hands. Had stood in judgement of not just his own species, but others, and had not been found wanting.

For the first time in a long time, Narek began to wonder if he might have walked himself into a situation he couldn’t talk his way out of.

-o0o-

_It had been a while since she had needed to hack her way into a Federation vessel, but Narissa felt the skills coming back to her as if it had been yesterday. Thankfully, the back doors that Oh had had programmed into the last few software updates were still open. The Federation were, as usual, far too trusting and far less cunning than her own people._

_She had heard the sounds of the synthetics and the Starfleet crew discovering the assault on the golden-skinned thing and knew they had already begun to look for her. It had, it appeared, had some difficulty in describing her to its fellow machines, and Narissa had gathered that it had had some kind of malfunction. It seemed that these things were not immune to an overload of sensation, or the consciousness of helplessness. Good. Let it know fear. It would know more before she was finished._

_The rear door of the shuttle began to slowly and quietly descend. As soon as the gap was large enough, Narissa was through, hitting the emergency door close button._

_She would be off this planet and at warp before they figured out she had stolen their shuttlecraft._

-o0o-

Narek closed his eyes then opened them again, keeping his hands at shoulder height. “I understand. Neither of you has any reason to trust me. _I_ wouldn’t trust me. But I swear to you, I am not here to cause trouble.”

Picard smiled, but the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I don’t doubt it. And yet, even without exacerbation, your mere presence aboard this vessel is a great source of trouble for us all.”

“We should space him.” Narek didn’t turn or flinch, but still felt his heart beat a little faster at the sound of Captain Rios’s voice behind him. He could see from Soji’s expression that she had registered his surprise as well.

Picard held his hand up again, placating. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”

Narek heard running feet, and the rest of _La Sirena’s_ crew burst into the room. Again he felt the threatening presence of many weapons trained unwaveringly on him. As he looked between the members of the crew, he could see that there was very little sympathy for him between them.

“Whether you think so or not, this is my ship and _he_ is _not_ staying.”

“We could space him?” Raffi had been the first to arrive, and looked uncharacteristically grim.

Elnor looked at her, eyebrows raised. “That is out of character for you.”

“You’re damn right. But you know he would do the same to us if given half the chance.” She scowled. “You were _there_ when his people flushed the Borg drones out into space! You _saw_ what that did to Seven.”

Elnor nodded. “Ah, of course, yes. And since you and she are now engaged in a romantic relationship you don’t want to do anything to risk that, so you want to make the problem of _him,_ ” the young Romulan gestured with his sword, “go away as quickly as possible without allowing his presence to put a strain on either of you.”

Raffi gaped at him then said, “You know, this absolute candor thing can get a little tiresome.”

Elnor nodded. “So I’ve been told, many times.”

“Oh, no, I don’t think we should space him.” Agnes Jurati, the little cyberneticist, had put down her weapon and was looking imploringly at Rios. “We don’t know how much he knows, or who he might have been in contact with, or anything. There could be Warbirds on their way already.”

The xB shook her head. “No, I don’t think he would have risked a transmission.” She gave the scientist a pointed look. “He _could_ have some kind of passive tracker inside him. We should have Emil take a look.”

Jurati paled slightly and bit her lip. Rios and Raffi both looked at the xB, both speaking at the same time, over each other.

“Seven, that was a little harsh…” “Hey! Enough!...”

“Stop!” Soji held her hands to her head, eyes tightly closed, “What gives you all the right to think you get to make a decision about what we should do with him? He hasn’t done anything to any of you! He tried to kill me! Multiple times! He tried to kill my entire family! My entire _species!_ ”

The room fell silent. Narek stared at Soji, willing her to look at him. She did.

“There’s only one thing we can do. I don’t like it any more than any of you.”

-o0o-

_Getting the computer to respond to her commands had been laughably easy. She had managed to find records of La Sirena’s last transmission to Ghulion IV, as well as their departure log and planned route out of the system. There weren’t many places they could be going on a heading like that, and knowing who had shipped out with them it seemed likely they were heading in the direction of Fenris._

_Narissa turned to the navigational controls, programming in the information that would take her off this rock and out of the system. As she input the last instruction and pressed the button to engage, the screen went dead. The lights inside the shuttle sparked out. She heard the_ thunk _of the shuttle door lock engaging._

_The viewscreen at the front of the shuttle lightened, and she could see some of the Starfleet crewmembers standing around the ship. One of the humans, a short dark-skinned woman, strode forwards and gestured. She pressed at the combadge on her chest and Narissa could hear her voice coming out of a small speaker on the conn of the shuttle._

_“Whoever you are, you should know that we have this shuttle surrounded. This planet and its people are under the protection of the United Federation of Planets. This shuttlecraft is the property of Starfleet.” The woman looked at a small wrist holo and said, “From the information the shuttle recorded before you activated its lockdown, it appears you were using a Romulan back door sequence. To that I can only say, you are under arrest for assault, for attempted theft of a shuttlecraft, and for being part of a prohibited organisation.” The woman paused again, then, smiling slightly and speaking with obvious relish continued, “You should also know that the Romulan Free State has banned the organisation known as the Zhat Vash, and that all members of said organisation found within the border of Free State territories are to be returned to Rator III for investigation and trial.”_

_Narissa stared at the viewscreen, mind racing. She was trapped. She let out a howl of frustration and rage and slammed her fist into the speaker._

_She was still sitting in the pilot’s chair when the Starfleet crew entered the shuttle, and didn’t fight them when they shackled her and led her out towards their headquarters._

-o0o-

Narek hadn’t thought _La Sirena_ was even big enough to have a brig, let alone one this sophisticated. He paced in the small room, looking occasionally out at Elnor, who sat meditating in the centre of the room.

He had felt the slight shift in the inertial dampening field when the ship had changed course. He wasn’t sure where they were going, but it was unlikely to be good for him.

“Elnor.”

The freak looked up at him, the strange air that marked him as one trained by the Qowat Milat adding an odd, out-of-placeness to his movements.

“Narek. You intend to try and persuade or bluff your way out of your cell.”

Narek huffed a laugh. “No. What would be the point? Where would I go?”

Elnor shrugged. “I don’t think that would matter to you as much as that you would be free.”

Narek looked at him shrewdly. “You might be right. But no, I don’t intend on a prison break. I just wondered if I might be able to have something to drink? Or perhaps some food? I don’t think I’ve had anything substantial since we left the planet.”

Elnor quirked an eyebrow at him. “I am Romulan, you know. I am aware of precisely how long one of our species can go without food or water. I also know you have had Tal Shiar training, and also perhaps Zhat Vash training, and that it is unlikely you would be in desperate need of food or water for some time yet.”

Narek snarled, banging his hands on the forcefield in front of him. “So, you intend to torture me? Make me suffer until I spill all of my non-existent secrets?”

Elnor shrugged again. “No. I am simply going to watch you. If you come to need food or water, I will provide it, but I will not do anything that might risk the safety of this ship or those aboard until I must.” He gestured towards the cage of force surrounding Narek. “In case you were wondering, feeding you is included in the risky things.”

Frustrated, Narek thrust his hands through his hair. He turned away, ready to throw himself back onto the small, uncomfortable bunk. As he did, he heard the door to the brig open. Rios, Seven and Raffi entered, phaser rifles drawn and aimed in his direction.

Rios spoke. “Computer, deactivate program Brig 1.”

Narek stared as the walls around him melted away to reveal a holosuite. “A _hologram?!_ Your brig is a hologram?”

Rios grinned at him and gestured with his phaser. “This way, cabrón, and don’t try anything exciting.”

Elnor moved around to stand behind him, whispering as he passed “Choose to live.”

They took him to the transporter chamber, where Picard and Soji were already waiting. Picard gestured for him to step onto the transporter pad. Soji stared at him, arms wrapped around herself. The four armed crewmembers surrounded him, Seven and Raffi facing outwards, Rios and Elnor facing towards him. Narek felt like a trapped animal, but he couldn’t deny to himself that their caution was at least somewhat warranted.

As Picard stepped to the console, Soji spoke, voice taut with raw emotion. “You _hurt_ me. You took my heart and destroyed it, before I’d even had a chance to figure out what it was. I don’t forgive you, and I won’t forget you, but I can’t let you make me become something I’m not. If you live, don’t come looking for me. I can’t promise I’ll be able to stop myself a second time.”

He could see her eyes begin to brim with unshed tears as the transport took effect.

-o0o-

She sat in the small, dark room. She hadn’t moved for hours. The guard had tried provoking her, first to speech, and then to action. She didn’t respond. Whether it was to refuse them the satisfaction of seeing her beaten, or because she was unable to process her own defeat, she wasn’t entirely sure. It had been a day, perhaps a day and a half, since they had marched her in here. It was colder than she would have preferred, a temperature more suitable for humans.

She heard a disturbance at the door of the prison. Voices that sounded familiar. For the first time, she raised her head. So, he hadn’t escaped either.

As they locked her brother into the neighbouring cell, she watched. He didn’t look in her direction. He looked broken. At least one member of the crew of _La Sirena,_ on the other hand, had noticed her. She saw the xB’s eyes flick wide open in surprise. Seven walked towards the door of her cell – a depressingly physical door, which could be neither hacked nor disrupted into letting her out – and stared down at her.

“You lived. How disappointing. I hate leaving a job unfinished.”

Narissa did nothing but glare, saving her energy for the only thing that mattered.

Seven turned away, dismissively, and walked out of the small prison. The curly haired woman followed her with her eyes, then whispered something to the tall, tanned human and ran out after her.

After locking Narek in his cell, the two men from _La Sirena_ and the guard left the room.

Narissa jumped to her feet and tried to speak, her voice coming out an unfamiliar croak. “Brother dear. I do hope you have some thoughts on how to get us out of here.”

Narek’s head whipped around, registering her presence for the first time. He snorted. “I see they caught you too. No, I don’t have any thoughts at all. It’s your turn. And you’d better think them fast, because they’ve sent a message to the Free State senate to come and get us, and if they do we’ll be spirited away to some Tal Shiar black site and likely never see the light again.” He paused, letting his head drop back against the wall of the prison. “Frankly, I don’t even know if that’s a bad thing any more. I’m done being the one that comes up with your ideas for you, Narissa. Get yourself out of this mess. No pressure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am forever indebted to Regionalpancake for the idea, the prompt, and the encouragement that got me to write this.
> 
> I am also forever indebted to Memory Alpha because without it I would have got so much wrong...


End file.
